I just got some Assam Kopili Estate from among the bulk spices and teas at my local Whole Foods. This is my first time tasting an Assam tea, and I'm wondering if I brewed it wrong because it's extremely strong and bitter. It's leaving quite a bit of acid on my teeth.
I brewed 1 teaspoon for 5 minutes with boiling water. Unfortunately, I have no milk to try it with. Should I have brewed it for a shorter time? Should I have used cooler water? Is it just one of those teas that needs milk? Is it supposed to be bitter or did I just try a bad assam the first time around?
I never go longer than 3 mins on the first steep of an Assam.
- Victoria -
http://victoriasown.blogspot.com/
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Assam should be bold and malty not astringent enough to peel the enamel off your teeth. Maybe it was cut with something cheaper. What does the leaf look like? Bits and pieces or larger pieces (cut, tear, curl)? Lots of tips? The first time I used a CTC tea, I used my normal amount and it curled my hair. Now this is from an old broad who drinks full city roast coffee strong enough to float an anchor, same with my teas. I'm not a delicate flower.
Lessee if we can save it before you deposit it in the garbage. Black teas like boiling water, but they don't want to actually be boiled. Try about half the leaf you used the first time and see if that helps. I'd suggest having it with some milk or cream (cream is frowned upon by some but Assam's can take it) and a touch of your favorite sweetener, even if you don't normally use sugar. I like Demerara or Turbinado sugar (less processing, brownish, more flavor) or honey, and I'm not one to put sugar in my drinks.
If I'm in the mood to Hong Kong Fooie or Bok Choy my Assam, I just toss another spoonful or so into the pot on top of the used leaves, add boiling water and let steep for 3 minutes. Conventional wisdom says 5 but some teas I've had will peel the paint off the walls if they're done that long.
HTH, Jeanne
Lessee if we can save it before you deposit it in the garbage. Black teas like boiling water, but they don't want to actually be boiled. Try about half the leaf you used the first time and see if that helps. I'd suggest having it with some milk or cream (cream is frowned upon by some but Assam's can take it) and a touch of your favorite sweetener, even if you don't normally use sugar. I like Demerara or Turbinado sugar (less processing, brownish, more flavor) or honey, and I'm not one to put sugar in my drinks.
If I'm in the mood to Hong Kong Fooie or Bok Choy my Assam, I just toss another spoonful or so into the pot on top of the used leaves, add boiling water and let steep for 3 minutes. Conventional wisdom says 5 but some teas I've had will peel the paint off the walls if they're done that long.
HTH, Jeanne
Nov 22nd, '08, 15:09
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Assams can push the limits of the flavor spectrum both ways. Some, like the CTC stuff treazure mentioned (and which I personally love) will be extremely bitter and strong brewed for 5 minutes. I do 2 and a half with them, tops. I wouldn't cut the amount of tea you used, but would play with the brewing times a bit.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I tried slightly less than a teaspoon, steeped for 2 1/2 minutes in water slightly under boiling, and added turbinado. It's not nearly as bitter as before. Adding a bit of milk cut the bitterness just a bit, too, but it still leaves that bitter bite at the back corner of my tongue near my tonsils.
The leaves unfurl to quite a large leaf when wet.
I'm not going to give up just yet on Assam. I'll keep playing with the steeping times. Luckily, I only got 5 or 6 teaspoons of this particular Assam. Maybe I'll try one of Adagio's versions the next time I make an order. I like the boldness of the flavor, so I can see that a smooth Assam would have the potential to be a nice morning tea to add to my repertoire of morning teas.
The leaves unfurl to quite a large leaf when wet.
I'm not going to give up just yet on Assam. I'll keep playing with the steeping times. Luckily, I only got 5 or 6 teaspoons of this particular Assam. Maybe I'll try one of Adagio's versions the next time I make an order. I like the boldness of the flavor, so I can see that a smooth Assam would have the potential to be a nice morning tea to add to my repertoire of morning teas.
Nov 22nd, '08, 18:20
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The bitter taste is the acid from oversteeping. I find, as a typical rule, that lower quality teas (dry, old, crushed to dust) can't stand up to long steeping. Stay under 3 minutes with this tea. Also, try drinking it right away; if there are loose, fine particles making it through the bag, they will continue to steep until all acid is released.
Best of luck!
Best of luck!
Milk is advised.
Do NOT brew this tea under 3 minutes. It's meant to have a longer, single extraction.
Tea, by it's chemical nature, will have some astringency. For breakfast teas (Assam is the archetypal breakfast tea, and is the base for many breakfast blends), you want to add a spot of milk.
Assam is meant to be extracted with water that is just at boiling.
Do NOT add the milk after you pour the tea. Put the milk in the bottom of the tea cup first, then add your hot tea. This prevents the milk proteins from unfolding (the specific term is 'denaturation'), because the initial hot tea intrusion into the milk pool cools it, rather than cooks it. The more the milk proteins unfold, the more they bind flavor components of tea, and that will make your tea taste bland.
The more tea components are bound to milk, the less likely you will enjoy a health benefit from your tea, because the milk protein-tea complexes are too large to be absorbed efficiently in the upper colon. On the palate, these complexes are also too large to bind efficiently to taste receptors. Milk protein-tea complexes also interfere with upper oral cavity detection of volatile tea flavor components.
Milk won't cut the bitterness. For that, you need a spot of sweetening. Tippy second flushes tend to have 'built in' sweetness and can be drank without sugar if you back off on the infusion strength. First flush teas are more aromatic, but has 'good acidity and briskness', characteristic of stronger tea finish meant to be drank first thing in the morning when the senses are a bit dulled.
Assam is not a wimpy tea. The finer the tea leaf, the greater the extraction surface and the faster the extraction. That should be your first indicator as to the length of tea infusion. Some Assams are very fine-leaved.
Add a bit of sugar or a natural sweetner like Stevia to take the edge off the acid finish of breakfast teas.
Honey is not advised; the complex flavors are better employed in herbal teas, where the protein component of honey won't interfere as much with the more delicate semi-aromatic flavor components.
Tea, by it's chemical nature, will have some astringency. For breakfast teas (Assam is the archetypal breakfast tea, and is the base for many breakfast blends), you want to add a spot of milk.
Assam is meant to be extracted with water that is just at boiling.
Do NOT add the milk after you pour the tea. Put the milk in the bottom of the tea cup first, then add your hot tea. This prevents the milk proteins from unfolding (the specific term is 'denaturation'), because the initial hot tea intrusion into the milk pool cools it, rather than cooks it. The more the milk proteins unfold, the more they bind flavor components of tea, and that will make your tea taste bland.
The more tea components are bound to milk, the less likely you will enjoy a health benefit from your tea, because the milk protein-tea complexes are too large to be absorbed efficiently in the upper colon. On the palate, these complexes are also too large to bind efficiently to taste receptors. Milk protein-tea complexes also interfere with upper oral cavity detection of volatile tea flavor components.
Milk won't cut the bitterness. For that, you need a spot of sweetening. Tippy second flushes tend to have 'built in' sweetness and can be drank without sugar if you back off on the infusion strength. First flush teas are more aromatic, but has 'good acidity and briskness', characteristic of stronger tea finish meant to be drank first thing in the morning when the senses are a bit dulled.
Assam is not a wimpy tea. The finer the tea leaf, the greater the extraction surface and the faster the extraction. That should be your first indicator as to the length of tea infusion. Some Assams are very fine-leaved.
Add a bit of sugar or a natural sweetner like Stevia to take the edge off the acid finish of breakfast teas.
Honey is not advised; the complex flavors are better employed in herbal teas, where the protein component of honey won't interfere as much with the more delicate semi-aromatic flavor components.
Kopili Estate teas are an exception to the typical Assam teas which are lowland grown. The high altitude teas are grown in a sulfur-enriched volcanic soils of the Himalayan foothills (key indicator: presence of hydrothermal vents in the immediate vicinity of this tea estate) that is ideal for encouraging production of tea leaf antioxidants that are also important to tea flavor/odor.
Thus, this is an Assam that can be processed into green, oolong and black teas. It can therefore be drunk without milk, once you accustom your palate to the flavor qualities.
Edited to add clarification.
Thus, this is an Assam that can be processed into green, oolong and black teas. It can therefore be drunk without milk, once you accustom your palate to the flavor qualities.
Edited to add clarification.
I'm not an Assam expert, so I'm not posting to tell you definitely DO or DO NOT do anything... I say play with it and find what you like, and stick with it.
For my own experience with black teas that brewed too strong at the standard 1 tsp/boiling/5 minutes, I learned quickly that I almost never enjoy any black tea with a 5 minute 1st infusion. I start with just-off-boil, 1 tsp, 3 minutes as a standard with a new black tea. If that proves to be too long, I reduce by 1 minute and play with it up and down in half-minute increments until I find that sweet spot. I've had some BOP and CTC that were nasty-bitter at 3 minutes and very nice at only 1 minute. I've had better luck with playing with infusion time than with changing leaf amount. I do prefer just off-boil to rolling boil for most black teas.
Sweet or not sweet... honey or sugar... cream or milk... all a personal preference that you can't really take advice from anyone about. I always try a new tea with no additives first, and I don't usually end up sweetening unless it stays bitter with every brewing parameter I try. I only add cream to masala chai.
All this is just my own taste, your mileage may vary... again, it's all about what tastes good to you. If you can't find the "sweet spot", it may just be poor quality tea, but I'm willing to bet you can find a brewing parameter that will make it drinkable and pleasant.
Sarah
For my own experience with black teas that brewed too strong at the standard 1 tsp/boiling/5 minutes, I learned quickly that I almost never enjoy any black tea with a 5 minute 1st infusion. I start with just-off-boil, 1 tsp, 3 minutes as a standard with a new black tea. If that proves to be too long, I reduce by 1 minute and play with it up and down in half-minute increments until I find that sweet spot. I've had some BOP and CTC that were nasty-bitter at 3 minutes and very nice at only 1 minute. I've had better luck with playing with infusion time than with changing leaf amount. I do prefer just off-boil to rolling boil for most black teas.
Sweet or not sweet... honey or sugar... cream or milk... all a personal preference that you can't really take advice from anyone about. I always try a new tea with no additives first, and I don't usually end up sweetening unless it stays bitter with every brewing parameter I try. I only add cream to masala chai.
All this is just my own taste, your mileage may vary... again, it's all about what tastes good to you. If you can't find the "sweet spot", it may just be poor quality tea, but I'm willing to bet you can find a brewing parameter that will make it drinkable and pleasant.
Sarah